1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a system for making changes to the cloth associated with animated characters and, more particularly, to making changes to a garment clothing a character after the character has been moved through a series of animated positions without requiring that the animation be restarted after the modifications are made.
2. Description of the Related Art
In animating a character wearing a garment, the garment must first be constructed around the character in some initial pose. Then the character must be animated to its starting pose for the real animation. At anytime during the animation, if the user wants to modify the garment, the simulation conventionally has to restart from its initial construction position. It is very time-consuming to resimulate the garment from its initial construction position to the animation starting position. The time required for the resimulation can range from minutes to hours depending on the complexity of the garment and the difference between the position of the character in which the garment is constructed and the position of the character at the start of the real animation.
What is needed is a system that will allow garment modification without restarting the simulation.
It is an object of the present invention to allow a garment simulated in an animation to be modified without requiring that the simulation or animation be reset or restarted.
It is another object of the present invention to modify cloth panels in place on a character.
It also an object of the present invention to map a new or modified panel into an old panel in the animation by morphing.
It is an additional object of the present invention to allow animators to animate cloth characters with desired garments thereon in a fast and efficient manner.
It is a further object of the present invention to improve the quality of the animation by allowing more experiments with cloth garments in a given period of time.
The above objects can be attained by a system that allows a user to make modifications to the pattern of a cloth garment and have the new geometry updated in the in-scene garment without having to start the simulation from the beginning. The modifications are made to the garment in a relaxed and posed position in the animation. Modified panels of the garment are mapped into the counterpart panels of the simulated garment. A relaxation of the modified garment allows the new panel to take its natural shape in the simulation. The mapping is done by morphing the new panel into the old panel and finding each new panel vertex a location in the original panel.
These together with other objects and advantages which will be subsequently apparent, reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.